Contents

Summary

A port is an electrical design primitive. It is used to make an electrical connection between one schematic sheet and another, in a design using multiple sheets. The name of the port defines the connection (i.e. a port on a schematic sheet connects to ports with the same name on other sheets in the project).

Availability

Ports are available for placement in the Schematic Editor only, by clicking Home | Circuit Elements | from the main menus.

Placement

After launching the command, the cursor will change to a cross-hair and you will enter port placement mode. Placement is made by performing the following sequence of actions:

Click or press Enter to anchor the left-hand edge of the port.

Move the cursor to adjust the length of the port as required, then click or press Enter to complete placement of the port.

Continue placing further ports or right-click or press Esc to exit placement mode.

Additional actions that can be performed during placement – while the port is still floating on the cursor, and before its left-hand edge is anchored – are:

Press the Tab key to access an associated propertiesdialog, from where properties for the port can be changed on-the-fly.

Press the Alt key to constrain the direction of movement to the horizontal or vertical axis, depending on the initial direction of movement.

Press the Spacebar to rotate the port anti-clockwise or Shift+Spacebar for clockwise rotation. Rotation is in steps of 90°.

Press the X or Y keys to mirror the port along the X-axis or Y-axis respectively.

While attributes can be modified during placement (Tab to bring up associated properties dialog), bear in mind that these will become the default settings for further placement.

Graphical Editing

This method of editing allows you to select a placed port object directly in the workspace and change its length, height, or location graphically.

When a port object is selected, the following editing handles are available:

A selected Port.

Click and drag A to change the length of the port.

Click and drag B to change the height of the port.

Click anywhere on the port – away from editing handles – and drag to reposition it. While dragging, the port can be rotated (Spacebar/Shift+Spacebar) or mirrored (X or Y keys to mirror along the X-axis or Y-axis respectively).

The name for the port object can be edited in-place by:

Single-clicking the port to select it.

Single-clicking again (or pressing the Enter key) to enter the in-place editing mode. Sufficient time between each click should be given to ensure the software does not interpret the two single-clicks as one double-click (which would open the port's properties dialog).

To finish editing in-place text, press the Enter key, or use the mouse to click away from the port.

An object that has its Locked property enabled cannot be selected or graphically edited. Double click on the locked object directly and disable the Locked property, to graphically edit the object.

Via the SCH Inspector Panel

The SCH Inspector panel enables the designer to interrogate and edit the properties of one or more design objects in the active document. Used in conjunction with the Find Similar Objects dialog, the panel can be used to make changes to multiple objects of the same kind, from one convenient location.

Autosize

Doing things manually typically means having to expend additional effort. Of course, this gives you full control, but if an automated process can be put in place that is both fast and effective, its use can be of great benefit. With the port object, automation of port size can certainly have a positive impact on productivity.

To take advantage of the autosizing feature, enable the port's Autosize option. This can be done in either the Port Properties dialog, or the SCH Inspector panel.

Autosizing in action. With feature disabled (top) the port would have to be manually resized. But when enabled (bottom), the port is automatically resized to accommodate the length of the new text.

Autosizing works irrespective of whether the text is entered non-graphically (via Port Properties dialog, or SCH Inspector panel), or graphically, through in-place editing directly in the workspace.

And if you change font size, the autosizing feature's got you covered. The height of the port will simply be resized to accommodate the text accordingly.

With autosizing enabled (bottom) the port will resize to fit the new text size.

The autosizing feature proves invaluable when picking up existing text for the port name from elsewhere on the sheet, using the inheritance feature. Simply ensure the Autosize option is enabled (on-the-fly during placement using the Tab key to access the Port Properties dialog). In placement mode, hover the cursor – with port attached – over the text required (a net label for example), and press the Insert key. The port will not only inherit the text, but resize to accommodate the length/height of that text.

Notes

All Ports with the same name, within the same or different schematic documents, are considered to be electrically connected.

The I/O Type option in the Port Properties dialog allows you to define the port's electrical type. Choose from either Input, Output, Bidirectional or Unspecified.

Should you need to negate (include a bar over the top of) a port name, include a backslash character after each character in the name (e.g. E\N\A\B\L\E\)

Port names are not used for naming nets. This means a system-generated net name will be used if no net label or power object is associated with that net.

By default, the font used for the port's Name follows the global document-level font, set on the Sheet Options tab of the Document Options dialog (Project | Content | ). This can be overridden at the individual port-level, using the control to the right of the Font label, in the Port Properties dialog – allowing you to fully control the textual presentation of ports as needed.